Mangaluru: In order to create awareness among the public on ATM skimming, the city police gave a demonstration on Sunday February 28. This technique which involves hardware and software skills, have been used by fraudsters to withdraw money from ATMs without the knowledge or approval of bank account holders.
DCP Hariram Shankar stated that the public should be wary of such fraudsters and said that an organized gang has been operating in various places. “Recently four accused were arrested on charges of ATM skimming. During interrogation, they revealed that they had procured the skimming devices through Alibaba website. These devices are easily available on websites,” he said.
Four people had been arrested on charges of fitting four ATMs in Mangaluru with skimming devices on February 24. Gladwin Jinto Joy alias Jintu (37), resident of Thrissur, Kerala; Dinesh Singh Rawat (44), Prem Nagar, Delhi; Abdul Majeed (27), Koodlu, Kasargod; and Rahul T S (24), resident of Alappuzha, Kerala, were arrested for attaching skimming devices in the ATMs of Bank of India at Kulai, Canara Bank at Nagori and Capitanio, SBI ATM at Mangaladevi, Canara Bank ATM at Chilimbi etc, through which data of bank customers was extracted. Fake ATM cards were made with these details and money was withdrawn in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kasargod, Goa, Madikeri etc.
DCP Hariram said that the arrested four were involved in ATM skimming in Delhi, Chennai, Goa, and Kerala. Adding that the investigation has been in progress since November and December 2020 he said, “The accused would target ATMs of post offices because most of the post offices do not have chip readers. The skimming devices would write the data to a card that does not have chip. After obtaining data through these devices, they would withdraw money. When people come to know that they have lost money, they need to go to the bank within three days and register a complaint. As per RBI guidelines, their money will be returned to their account. As of now, the accused are under police custody and investigation in progress.”
